Inset: Stanley Nathaniel Elliott (Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office). Background: The parking lot where Elliott shot and killed a man out walking his dogs in Lawrenceville, Ga. (Google Maps).
A Georgia man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a neighbor simply because the victim was out walking his dogs.
Stanley Nathaniel Elliott, 75, was found guilty by a jury of his peers in Gwinnett County this week on one count each of felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the district attorney's office announced in a press release.
In turn, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole plus an additional five years.
The underlying incident occurred on Feb. 25, 2021, along Riverside Parkway in Lawrenceville – a medium-sized city and northeastern suburb of Atlanta – and took the life of 44-year-old Anthony Collins.
On the afternoon in question, Collins was out walking his Jack Russell puppies when Elliott approached him with a gun in hand.
Following a dispute, the defendant fatally shot the victim.
Authorities first received a "trouble unknown" call about an incident outside of the community pool and tennis courts of the Meadow Trace neighborhood, according to a report by Atlanta Fox affiliate WAGA. When police arrived, Collins was already dead in the parking lot next to his own car, local NBC affiliate WXIA reported.
It was not the first time the two men argued about the dogs.
A few months before the slaying, in December 2020, Elliott used a metal pole to try to beat Collins' dogs, witnesses testified during the trial, according to a courtroom report by Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV. The defendant, in fact, was something of a known quantity in this regard – often using the same implement to fend off stray dogs.
After the shooting, Gwinnett County police used surveillance footage to identify Elliott and later found the gun used in the slaying hidden in a motorboat in the defendant's garage, according to prosecutors.
During the trial, jurors heard about the prior altercation and were shown surveillance footage of a man resembling Elliott raising an arm to shoot another man who is seen on video walking several dogs.
"Violence – and especially deadly violence – is not the answer for solving any dispute," Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a statement obtained by WAGA.